Seema Patra, the suspended BJP Mahila Morcha worker from Jharkhand, was arrested by the Ranchi police on Wednesday for allegedly torturing her tribal house help.
ANI reported that the arrest took place on Wednesday morning and a case was registered against Patra at the Argora police station in Ranchi. In a video tweeted by ANI of Patra being taken away by the police, Patra says she is innocent. "These are false allegations, politically motivated allegations. I have been implicated," she tells a bunch of reporters who ask her if the allegations were true.
The arrest comes after the BJP suspended Patra as a video of Sunita, the house help, went viral on several social media platforms, and people demanding action against her. The video showed a tremendously injured Sunita accusing Patra of physical torture.
Who is Seema Patra?
Patra's Facebook page says that she was part of the BJP's Mahila Morcha in Jharkhand and also a member of the party's National Working Committee. An NDTV report said that Patra is married to a retired IAS officer Maheshwar Patra.
A look through her Facebook page shows Patra wearing BJP symbols and participating in several events.
Patra was suspended from the BJP as news of her torturing her house help broke. The Indian Express reported that the governor of Jharkhand Ramesh Bais sent a note to the DGP asking for a report on the issue within two days.
The newspaper quoted the press release as saying, "Seema Patra, wife of a former IAS officer, physically abused her domestic help in Ashok Nagar in Ranchi and why the DGP has not acted against the accused. It is a grave problem…In Palamu district, under Pandu Police Station, a particular community drove 50 Dalits out of their homes. It is worrisome."
What has she been accused of?
Sunita, the 29-year-old house help, has said that she was beaten and tortured brutally by Patra at her home in Ranchi's posh Ashok Nagar area. Sunita is said to have been working with Patra for the past 10 years and is from Jharkhand's Gumla.
NDTV reported Sunita saying that Patra used rods and a hot iron pan to beat her and even forced her to lick urine off the floor. Sunita's teeth were said to have been broken with an iron pan.
The video doing the rounds of social media purportedly showed Sunita barely able to talk, her front teeth mostly missing, and unable to sit up. Sunita is now under medical care at Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.
An FIR was registered against Patra at the Argora police station in Ranchi. The Indian Express reported that the FIR was registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, and under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (grievous hurt), 346 (wrongful confinement), 374 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Indian Penal Code.
The National Commission for Women took note of the revelations and wrote to the Jharkhand DGP. It was quoted by ANI as saying, "National Commission for Women has taken cognizance of media reports of Seema Patra, wife of former IAS officer Maheshwar Patra, brutally assaulting & harassing their maid. NCW has written to Jharkhand DGP for a fair probe and to arrest the accused if allegations are true."
How did the issue come to light?
The FIR, according to another report by The Indian Express, was registered after a complaint from a government employee Vivek Anand Baskey. According to NDTV, Baskey is a station officer at the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.
Baskey was reportedly told about the torture by Patra's son Ayushman.
The Indian Express report said that according to the FIR, when Ayushman complained about the way Sunita was being treated, Patra admitted him to the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences.
In the video, Sunita is heard saying, she is alive only because of him.